This tiny mistake taught me a lesson I'll never forget
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I read the email again.
Was it a typo?
Nope. There it was.
I was reading an email from a brand manager named Karla. We were trying to work out a deal for a 60-90-second YouTube integration brand deal. An integration for a channel my size isn’t huge, maybe $500-$800 but hey, it’s something.
That’s why when I saw her email offering me $4,200 I nearly had a heart attack. Contrast that with my massive amount of financial distress lately, I was practically ecstatic.
I tried to act casual in my response.
Then I got her second email.
It was a typo.
Instead of $4,200, the offer was $200. A sizable difference, but even for my channel that’s just disrespectfully low. Compounded by such a high anchor and my possible liberation from the pits of financial ruin, I was more than a little upset.
But what upset me the most was not the money or the fact that she wasted my time. What upset me was the fact that Karla’s job was to communicate and negotiate a price, yet she didn’t take enough care in her job to re-read a 75-character email for spelling errors.
My mind immediately flashed back to something my friend Jordan told me. I had taken him out for coffee to pick his brain a bit. I asked him if he has any personal truths he lives by, or that guide him and he said,
“Do the common things uncommonly well.”
That’s not what I expected.
The reason is because that did not seem like a driving force for someone like Jordan. For reference, this guy was one of the most driven, mature guys I’d met under 24. He had served a leadership role in the refugee crisis camps in Greece, worked as an EMT, was an absolute stud, and not to mention freakishly good at sports.
I expected something a bit more dramatic to be honest.
The common things uncommonly well? That’s it?
But he explained how when you do the little things well, it refines you and begins to compound. You become calculated and intentional. He told me people notice. After all our lives aren’t full of the extraordinary, they are full of the boring and mundane. And very few people do the boring and mundane well.
Since that conversation, I’ve tried to focus even more on the little things. Taking more time in a text to clearly communicate, re-reading my emails, taking an extra 20 seconds to park where is most convenient for everyone not just me, etc. It’s amazing how a few extra seconds can make such a difference in how you are perceived. The crazy part is I can’t count how many times I wrote an email, thought it was perfect, only to catch a tiny error that changed everything. Just like Karla sent. You’ll be amazed at the things you’ll start catching.
Organized, structured, disciplined.
vs
Unprofessional, cluttered, disoriented.
Little choices make the difference.
Needless to say, the brand deal fell apart after that. There’s no way I’m ever working with someone who thinks they are too busy to spellcheck their emails. We all make mistakes, which is fine. But a pattern of careless mistakes can and should be avoided. The other thing is it doesn’t take any time at all. For years I couldn’t figure out when to use “to” or “too.” A 30-second Google search and I’ve never wondered since.
It’s not hard.
It takes less energy to learn how to do something correctly than it does to constantly worry if you did something wrong.
(pause) There’s someone you know who needs to read that. 👆
I firmly believe that this is the key to an extraordinary life. It prepares you for when opportunity presents itself.
Some of you reading this are blundering through the little things because you're holding out for big opportunities to hit you. It’s terribly uncomfortable advice, but if you want to stack the deck in your favor, start by mastering the little things. Clean your room. Apologize for your mistakes. Be considerate. Pronunciate. You can get ahead of 80% of people just by doing the common things uncommonly well.
We constantly underestimate the power of small changes. Consistent, incremental refinement over decades will compound to unrecognizable heights.